Textures of Oaxaca Workshop with Lisa Pressman
Lisa Pressman has planned a workshop in Oaxaca that will draw upon the textures, colors and patterns of the city that will be combined in visual interpretations using R&F pigment sticks, cold wax, and drawing materials on paper. Prior experience with cold wax or pigment sticks is desired but not a requirement for this workshop. Lisa is one of the instructors at R&F so she knows the product well. She will guide artists daily through exercises using these and other materials, drawing upon our visual information collected from our outings in Oaxaca.
Oaxaca is filled with color, from its textured buildings, to the domes of its churches, to the markets lined with artful displays. But what I admire most are the women who arrive from outlying villages wearing their colorful huichols and long braids twisted around their heads like crowns, lined with beautiful ribbons. And there seems to be a never ending parade of some kind going on whenever we visit. It is a visual feast wherever you look
Lisa will guide us using these different visual elements to connect with our art using layers, mono printing, and mark making which will lead artists to discover their own personal symbols.
Lisa's own work is rooted in a sense of play and discovery, an intuitive dialogue between the random and the deliberate that allows a relationship between intent and accident to develop. She says that if we listen our work will tell us a story.
Lisa Pressman
Lisa believes that images and experiences signify evidence of time and change. The colors of a wall, marks on the street, the colors of fallen leaves are just a few of the connections that will enter into our practice. Our process will be to make a mark, add a color or a word, a journal page, or a gesture.
Lisa Pressman
Then we will allow the relationship between intent and accident to unfold. Playing translucent and opaque layers of pigmented beeswax against each other, drawing, layering, covering up, sanding, and scraping will lead to the discovery of the image. At least 22 6'x6' works on paper will be generated along with larger studies. This kind of experience will be the catalyst for more in-depth series in your home studios.
Lisa Pressman
Though this video is from 2011, it is a great interview with Lisa and shows her work.
While in Oaxaca, we will stay at the family owned B&B, Las Bugambilias, led by matriarch, Emilia Arroyo Cabrera. Her son, Rene is our guide when we visit outside the city, his wife, Adriana greets us as we check in, daughter, Pilar runs the restaurant and makes our wonderful lunches. Together with their wonderful staff, they ensure that their home is our home while we are there. I guarantee, after they feed and take care of us, you will want to stay a little while longer.
The workshop starts October 14 and ends October 22, 2016 in the city of Oaxaca in the state of Oaxaca Mexico. The trip costs $3200 and includes:
- 8 nights accommodations
- five days of class with Lisa
- welcome reception
- 7 breakfasts and 6 lunches
- 4 dinners
- two cooking classes, one at Susana Trilling's Seasons of My Heart Cooking School on moles
- outings to black pottery makers, colorful alebrijes village, the carved wooden animals from Oaxaca, a cochineal farm where you will be able to purchase some of this exquisite powder, and to a handmade paper factory
- Final dinner at the celebrated Orijen restaurant with a menu prepared just for our group
- a new art tribe and inspiration to take home for your art practice
The price does not include airfare to/from Oaxaca or transportation from the airport which is approximately $30. A nonrefundable $1,000 deposit reserves your participation with the balance due June 1, 2016. Installments can be made for the remaining balance. There are no refunds or exchanges at any time for any reason. We wish we could compensate people for unforeseen circumstances (injury, family emergency, etc.) but we have costs already incurred to reserve the retreat venue. We strongly recommend you purchase travel insurance. To register, go here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me using the form below. Lisa and I hope that you will join us in Oaxaca for what will certainly be a thought provoking week of art.
